The Maine chapter of the American College of Physicians recently sent a report to Gov. Paul LePage documenting the many benefits of accepting federal dollars to expand Medicaid in Maine.

Our state has been a pioneer in providing coverage to our poorest patients, and we encourage Gov. LePage to use the Affordable Care Act as a vehicle to bring our state closer to the goal of universal health coverage.

The five-page report, “How Will the Medicaid Expansion Benefit Maine?” explains why it is in the best interests of residents, physicians, hospitals and the state itself to adopt the expansion. It notes that extending Medicaid coverage will reduce the number of uninsured Mainers, most of them from working families, by as much as 33 percent.

States now have the option of expanding their Medicaid programs to all individuals with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — in 2012, that’s $14,856 for an individual or $30,656 for a family of four.

The federal government will finance more than 90 percent of the expansion’s cost, the report says. From 2014 to 2016, the federal government will cover the full cost of the expansion. States will gradually assume a portion of the cost, topping out at 10 percent of expenses starting in 2020.

I believe it is imperative our state accept the unique opportunity now available to use federal dollars to expand Medicaid to the working poor and near-poor in our state.

Some 10 percent of Mainers — about 125,000 — were uninsured between 2009 and 2010. According to one estimate, 56,000 adult Mainers would be eligible for Medicaid coverage, including 46,000 who would be newly eligible under the health reform law.

No matter where one stands on the Affordable Care Act itself, the evidence is clear: Maine will benefit by accepting federal dollars to extend Medicaid, and Mainers will be harmed if it does not.

Other major findings in the report include:

— Medicaid expansion to Maine’s low-income uninsured will improve health status, reduce preventable deaths and enhance the quality of life.

— Medicaid expansion will help the “safety net” of physicians, hospitals and academic medical centers better serve lowincome patients and reduce costshifting.

— Medicaid expansion will benefit the state fiscally from the unprecedented offer by the federal government to pay almost all of the costs of extending the program.

— Accepting federal funding to expand Medicaid will cut uncompensated care provided by physicians and hospitals, which are shifted to everyone else in Maine in the form of higher premiums and taxes.

If Maine turns down or delays accepting this unprecedented offer, we will be leaving our poorest citizens with no other way to get coverage.

The result will be poorer health outcomes for our citizens, more uncompensated care for physicians and hospitals that take care of them, more costshifting for the rest of us, and ultimately, higher cost to the state’s taxpayers.

NANCY HASENFUS, MD, is governor of the Maine chapter of American College of Physicians, which represents 494 internal-medicine physician specialists and medical students.